Feed-control mechanism



T. w. 0. Burma.

FEED CONTROL MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED 1AN.31,l921.

Patented Apr 4, 1922 5 MEETS-SHEET 1- mi T. W. 0.. BEATTYIE.

FEED CONTROL MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3L. 1921.

1,41 1 ,400, v Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

5 $HEETS-SHEET Z- T. w. c, BEA'TTIE. FEED CONTROL MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 31. I921.

Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

mms ea.- 9 v I 6a 40124 M am;

milk)";

5 7/ 07): fl/C 5607778.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

TL W. G. BEATTlE.

FEED CONTROL MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 31. 1921.

WM-s-ses:

T. W. C. BEATTIE FEED CONTROL MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.31,.l92l.

Patented Apn 4, 1922.

5 SHEETSSHEET 5 l ilnesaes:

TES

UNITED STA PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS w. o. nni rrrn, or WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR 'ro NA'rIoNATUBE COMPANY, or rrr'rsnuuen. rnNiIsYLvANIn, A CORPORATION or NEWJERSEY.

FEED-CONTROL MECHANISM.

Application filed January 31, 1921.

T 0 aZZ w 710m it may concern Be it known that l, THOMAS ll". =17. BEAT-rrn, a citizen of the United States, and resident of lVheeling, in thecounty of Ohio and State of est Virginia, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Feed-Control Mechanisms, of which the fol lowingis a specification.

This invention relates to pipe mills, and more particularly to animproved automatic feed control mechanism for controlling the feed ofpipe through the sizing rolls and into the dump trough of the coolingtable.

The principal object of the present invention is to produce a mechanismof this class that will be entirely automatic in operation, and amechanism that will positively prevent the passage of more than one pipewithin the dumping trough at one time, and also prevent the passage ofpipe into the dumping trough when it is open to discharge an other pipe.

A still tlurther object is to provide a 'mechanism of this class that iscomposed of few parts, thereby providing a mechanism that is simple,durable, and inexpensive, and especially adapted to use in a pipe millwhere it will be subjected to extreme heat and rough usage.

I eretofore in existing pipe mills an operator has been employed tomanually hold back the on-coming pipegshould the precedingpipe tail toclear the sizing rolls or the dumping trough, and regardless of howexpert this operator may be, hecould not always control the pipe andnumerous jams occurred, which were very costly, since they delayed theoperation of the mill and produced a large amount of scrap.

The present invention entirely eliminates the disadvantages of the oldmill systems and causes a more efficient operation than was heretoforepossible.

Other objects and advantages will be brought out in the followingspecification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich-Figure 1 is a top plan view of the in-going trough and coolingtable of a pipe mill.

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail side'elevation of the automatic rontrolmechanism.

Figure 4c is an enlarged top plan of the mechanism of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a sectional elevation through Specification of LettersPatent. Patented Apr, 4, 1922 Serial No. 441,258.

the dumping trough showing the control mechanism.

Figure 6 is a detail sectional view through the control mechanism toillustrate details of the'latch mechanism.

Figure 7 is a cross sectional elevation on the line V II-VI1 of Figure1.

Referring particularly to the drawings, the letter A designates thein-going trough of a pipe mill which conveys the pipe to the sizingrolls B, from which it passes to the dumping trough C of a coolingtable, a portion of which is shown in Figure 1 and marked D.

The trough A is Vshaped in cross section and has a plurality ofsupporting feed rollers 2 journaled therein adapted to convey or feedthe pipe forward to the sizing rolls B, which are of any well known andpreferred construction.

The dump trough C of the cooling table is of ordinary construction andcomprises an inclined flat bottom 8 and a hinged cover or tunnel member4 adapted to beraised and lowered by means o'fgan' air cylinder 5 andlevers 6. i

.The rolls B are overhung from housing 9 and a suitable supportingbracket plate 7 is bolted to the housing 9 and supports a thimble orguide 'Sbetween the rolls B and dumping trough C.

Plate 7 is also-provided with a ridge or projection 10 to support asubstantially U- shaped casting 11, having one side 12 of greater lengththan its other side 12.

The side portions 12 and 12' each are provided with hearing apertures 13for the reception of shaft 14: which projects an appreciable distancebeyond the side portions 12 and 12 and i provided with a squaredhead 15on the end abutting the side portion 12.

The squared head 15 is provided with a squared vertically extendingaperture for the reception of a lever or trigger 16' which is heldvertically adjustable by means of a pin 17 passing through one of aplurality of apertures 18. I

The lever or trigger extends downwardly across the mouth or outlet ofthe thimlols or guide 8, and is adapted to be rocked by the pipes asthey pass through the thimble to the dump trough, thereby revolving theend pivotally engaged in the lower forked end of an upri ht lever 20which has its up er end forked and the forked portion prov ed with aslot 21 to receive a pinor pivot 22 passing through anothersubstantially horizontal lever 23. The lever20 is provided with ashoulder 24, intermediate its ends, and a coil spring 25 ismountedaround the lever and'has its lower end abutting the shoulder and itsupper end abutting the lever 23, thereby combining with the slottedforked portion of lever 20 and pin 22 to provide a flexible pivotalconnection between the levers 20 and 23 to allow for the differences inangle traveled by lever 16 and lever 23.

The lever 23 is pivotally connected intermediate its ends on a rigidstandard 26 on a three-Way double piston air valve 27, having springpressedpistons 28 and 29 controlling inlet and exhaust ports 28 and 29respecpipe 27 leads from a port or passage-27f to an air cylinder 30.The pipe 27 serves as both afeed and exhaust pipe for the cylinder 30,and'the port or passage 27 connects both the inlet-and exhaust-ports.

was

tion. i

The cylinder 30 is located approximately midway of the in-going trough,and the cylinder piston 31 is operatively connected by a link 32 to a V-shaped leveriorarm keyed ona shaft 34 journaled in suitable brackets 35spaced along the trough. Other levers or arms 36 and 37 are keyedadjacent each end of the shaft 34 in line with the lever 33. The levers33, 36, and 37 are so positioned on the shaft 3 1 that they normally liebelow the top plane of the feed rollers 2 and are adapted to be raisedabove this plane only when all" is admitted to the cylinder 30 whichwill rock the shaft 34. When the shaft 34 is real zed and levers or arms33, 36, and 37 are raised, they will lift the pipe beingfed toward therolls B from the rollers 2 and holdit stationary until the air is againreleased from the cylinder 30 and the leversor arms allowed to return totheir normal posi- Acollar or disk 38 is keyed on shaft 14 ahd'has itsperiphery provided with a notch "oi-e101; 39 adapted to be engaged by-alever "or latch 16 pivotally mounted at apoint forward of lts center onthe long side l2of casting"11','andbeing so positioned that its tor-wardend will extend beyond and not mally bear against the periphery of the001- lar or disk 38. The rear end. of the lever it) 7 is of reducedcross section and extends rearward into the path oi an operating arm orlever 4C1 which is secured to the dump trough cover t, and adapted tostrike the lever l9 when the dump trough cover is raised to release apipe.

When a pipe strikes trigger l6, shaft 1% is rotated and levers 1.9 and20 are operated to rock lever 23, thus forcing the piston 28 to moredownwardly to open the inlet port 28, and the piston 29 to move upwardlyto close the exhaust port 29l When the valve has thus operated air willfiow through the port 28 into the passage 27 and through thopipe 27 tothe cylinder 30, causing said cylinder to operate and rotate shaft 34,thereby raising the levers or arms 33, 36, and 37 so as to lift theon-coming pipe clear of the feed rollers. As shaft 14: is rotated, thecol lar or disk 38 will be rotated until the notch 39 comes opposite thepoint of the latch 46, at which point the latch will engage in thenotch. thus holding the lever mechanism in its raised position and thevalve 27 open. The lever mechanism will remain locked in its raisedposition, andvalve 27 will remain open, thereby holding the levers orarms 33, 36 and 37 and the oncoming pipe in their raised position clearof the feed rollers until the latch is released by the arm or lever 41striking the rear end of lever or latch as the dump trough cover israised to discharge a pipe. lVhen the latch 40 is released the levers l9and 20 will move downwardly, rocking the lever 23', thus reversing theposition of the pistons 28 and. 29 of the valve 27 and closing the inletport 28 and opening the exhaust port 29 thus cutting off the fluidpressure to the cylinder 30. The air in the cylinder. willthen exhaustthrough the port 29" and permit the arms 33, 36, and 37 to fall andreturn the on-coming pipe to the feed rollers 2.

From the above it will be readily apparent that I have-provided an.automatic feed control that is positive in action and of the highestgeneral efli'ciency;

While I have shown and described in detail one embodiment of myinvention, it will be expressly understood that I do notwish to belimited to this'exact construction, since it is only illustrative andvarious changes in the combination and arrangement of parts, and minorchanges in design will readily suggest themselves to those skilled inthe art, and may. be made without departing from the spirit of myinvention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim r p r I V 1. The combination with :1 pi mill com prising anin-goingfeed 'troug a'pair of sizing rolls, a dump trough,and a coolintable, of means operated by the pipe as It passes from said sizing rollsto said dump trough for holding the next succeeding pipe in said ingoingfeed trough until the actuating pipe has cleared the sizing rolls andbeen discharged from said dump trough.

2. The combination with a pipe mill having an in-going feed troughprovided with feedrollers, a pair of sizing rolls, a dump trough, and acooling table, of means for controlling the feed pipe from said in-goingfeed trough through said sizing rolls and onto said dump trough, saidmeans comprising a plurality of lifter arms journaled in said trough andadapted to be rocked to lift the pipe being fed from said feed rollers,

means for actuating said lifter arms, and means for controlling saidactuating means.

3. In a pipe mill having an in-going feed trough provided with feedrollers, a pair of sizing rolls, a dump trough, and a cooling table,means for controlling the feed of pipe from said iii-going feed troughthrough said sizing rolls and onto said dump trough, said meanscomprising aplurality of lifter arms keyed upon a shaft j ournaled alongsaid feed trough, said shaft being adapted to be rocked to raise saidarms and lift the pipe being fed clear of said feed rolls, an aircylinder connected with and adapted to rock said shaft, a valve forcontrolling the air flow to and from said cylinder, lever mechanism foractuating said valve, a trigger connected with and adapted to operatesaid lever mechanism to open said valve, said trigger being adapted tobe actuated by the pipe passing from said sizing rolls to said dumptrough, means for locking said lever mechanism in its open valveposition, and means carried by the cover of said dump trough adapted torelease said lever mechanism allowing it to close said valve and openthe exhaust when said dump trough cover is raised to discharge the pipe.

4. In a pipe mill having an in-going feed trough provided with feedrollers, a pair of sizing rolls, a dump trough, and a cooling I table,means for controlling the feed of pipe from said in-going feed troughthrough said sizing rolls and onto said dump trough, said meanscomprising a plurality of lifter arms keyed upon a shaft journaled onsaid feed trough, said arms being normally below the upper plane of saidfeed rollers, said shaftbeing adapted to be rocked to raise said armsand lift the pipe being fed clear of said feed rollers, means forrocking said shaft, and automatic means for controlling said rockingmeans.

5. In a pipe mill having an in-going feed trough provided with feedrollers, a pair of sizing rolls, a dump trough and a cooling table,means controlling the feed of pipe from said in-going feed troughthrough said sizing rolls and onto said dump trough, said meanscomprising a plurality of lifter arms keyed upon a shaft journaled onsaid feed trough, said arms being normally below the upper plane of saidfeed rollers, said shaft being adapted to be rocked to raise said armsand lift the pipe being fed clear of said feed rollers, an air cylinderconnected with and adapted to rock said shaft, a valve for controllingthe air flow to and from said cylinder, and means for automaticallyoperating said valve.

6. In a pipe mill having an iii-going feed trough provided with feedrollers, a pair of sizing rolls, a dump trough, and a cooling table,means for controlling the feed of pipe from said in-going feed troughthrough said sizing rolls and onto said dump trough, said meanscomprising a plurality of lifter arms keyed upon a shaft journaled onsaid feed trough, said arms being normally below the upper plane of saidfeed rollers, said shaft being adapted to be rocked to raise said armsand lift the pipe being fed clear of said rollers, an air cylinderconnected with and adapted to rock said shaft, a valve for con trollingthe air flow to and from said cylinder, and an automatically operatedlever mechanism for actuating said valve.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

THOMAS W. C. BEATTIE.

